One thing that is obvious is that major recording studio’s have taken a huge knock lately. This is not only because it takes 5 minutes to download an MP3 file from the internet, but also because of the ability to setup cost effective home recording studio’s. It is hardly necessary to spend $400 a day at a recording studio these days, when you can achieve more or less the same results from your bedroom. With a basic recording setup, there will be some hardware requirements. One of the requirements will be selecting the best sound card for recording applicable to your situation.

A professional sound card usually provides audio input jacks, so you can connect devices such as microphones, the line out from your guitar amp or even your guitar directly. Some will have MIDI functionality, meaning they will have a MIDI in and MIDI out port. This will allow you to connect devices such as keyboards and electric drum kits. Once you have recorded your midi data, you will have full control afterwards, which gives you the ability to edit notes and correct timing issues.

There are many manufacturers of cost effective recording sound cards. You may of heard of manufacturers such as Roland Edirol and Creative. You will be able to find devices such as these for under $350 and will get you set on music recording right away. You will have the option of buying an external or internal device. My advice would be to go the external route, purely because of the ease of connecting and disconnecting cables. External devices usually connect via firewire or USB.

Another thing you will want to look at is the latency the device has to offer. Not only do you want quality input jacks that will deliver the best sound possible, as you may also want to utilize virtual instrument software. For example, software such as Guitar Rig will provide real time processing of guitar effects. All you will need to do is plug your guitar into your low latency sound card.

The best sound card for recording is strictly dependant on your requirements. If you just want to record vocals by using one microphone, you will be able to find a card for your needs for under $100. The prices rises when MIDI and low latency processing is added. You will also want to make sure that the card you purchase will be compatible with the sound recording software you wish to use. Most cards on the market are compatible with Cubase, although you may need specific hardware such as M-Audio if you wish to make use of Pro Tools.